French robber caught 20 years on

Miloud Hai, 48, had been sentenced to life in prison in absentia for his part in a robbery in the western town of Saint-Nazaire in 1986.

The robbers made off with about 88m francs ($17.6m,£9m).

Police linked Hai, a 48-year-old Algerian national, to another heist in April this year and arrested him in northern Paris on Friday.

Estate agent attack

Hai was part of an armed gang that took part in the Saint-Nazaire bank robbery, still one of France's biggest.

He was sentenced to life in 1992. Four accomplices served up to 11 years in jail.

Hai avoided arrest by frequently changing address.

However, police linked him to an armed robbery in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine this April, in which four men had forced a real estate agent to open his safe and hand over $19,800 in cash.

Hai was arrested as he left an apartment where he had been hiding under a false name.